Magicae Hunter

The Magicae Hunter is an Anti-Magic Class inspired by the Templars of the Dragon Age game series. It is designed to be played in the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons and is intened to fill the role of being directly opposed to magic as opposed to its non-magcal counterpart.

The Magicae Hunter is a Martial Class with it roots found deep in the Fighter Class. It was designed to be a class that could do well enough to be useful in many situations whilke being focused heavily on dealing with spellcasters. Many class features are deigned entirely to deal with spellcasters in one way or another while some are more dynamic.

Outside of fighting spellcasetrs, the Class Feautres are diverse enough to allow the character enough flexibility to hold their own against creatures who are not spellcasters and thus still be relevant.

Current Version: 1.03

Update #1

Edits and fixes to a number of Class Features as well as other general fixes have been made thanks to the feedback from Matthew M.

Update #2

Fixed some inconsistencies in language;

Credits and Author's Notes edited;

The Tenacity Feature has been updated;

Update #3

Minor Edits to some Features (most notably Tenacity);

Edited the Multi-Classing Prerequisites and Proficiencies to be more inline with other Classes;

Update #4

Updated some minor wording on some Features to fix minor errors or inconsistencies, and to bring some clarity;

Updated Magical Silence to say that all ranged attacks with a target within the radius are affected rather than just those that target the Magicae Hunter;

Finished reading it and here are my thoughts. This is one of the more enjoyable classes I've read. I like that a lot of features upgrade over time. My main concern is higher level features gained from archetypes might be overkill when combined with other class features. Your overall theme of psychic resistances to magic comes through though. I remember the wording in Dragon Age describing Templar powers as "Strengthening the Veil, while magic tends to distort it for a desired effect" and that translates into this very well.

Here are my criticisms.

For a quick build section, classes don't usually say what gear to pick in official materials but this isn't a bad thing.

Fighting Style
I'd honestly remove this given the class' focus on defense over offense. I'm pretty sure most official classes start with just two class features rather than 3. If you want to keep this I'd say make it a Level 2 class feature similar to the Ranger Class.

A Sense of Magic...See more />
I like this skill and picture a player and dm saying it looks like stink lines in cartoons, the player saying the target "stinks of magic". I'd write that it works so long as a creature isn't behind full cover instead of not being aware of it or seeing it. This feature reads a lot like the Divine Sense feature for Paladins the language that feature has could be used here.

Strength and Hatred
This is a little strong for a second level class feature depending on the school you pick. There aren't many class features that double proficiency in saving throws, even if it is just for a max of two schools of magic. With wisdom saves being so common, choosing Enchantment or Illusion would be especially potent. Simply gaining advantage on saves from a specific school of magic would be less game breaking. Maybe make it a limited use advantage on saves if you wanted to take it further.

Tenacity
This is reminiscent of the "Relentless Rage" for a Barbarian and comes much earlier, but the method for calculating the CON Save DC balances it in comparison. I actually see this ability becoming worse in the face of high level enemies who's damage may exceed what the player could possibly roll even after the 13th level upgrade. With Strength and Hatred written as it is I don't see spell effects ever doing much damage.

I appreciate that you prohibit Mage Slayer as a feat since this class is essentially an expanded version of it.

A Hunter's Weaponry
Would it be better to word the first part like in the Mage Slayer Feat to where hitting concentrating spellcasters will impose disadvantage on concentration checks?
I like the upgrade, it comes at a good level, is decently niche, and isn't too overpowered by then.

Suppression Power
I like the base feature, it fits with the class and reactions are an under utilized part of the action economy.
Should the level 17 upgrade be more selective? As written this would apply to low level spells from allies too. Say the hunter is dying, a cleric would have to spend a higher level spell to get past the immunity when they could cast spare the dying to stabilize them or cure wounds to heal them.

Magical Silence
Very good capstone feature. Not too mind blowing, but can be gnarly in most situations involving enemy spellcasters.

Archetypes are up next

The Praetorian

Heavy Armor Proficiency is nice. I was honestly surprised the class wasn't proficient in all armor to start with. I don't think that would hurt anything.

Indomitable Warrior
Flat negation of crits is a little too powerful. For comparison, a Grave Cleric gets a similar ability but it is a reaction with limited uses per long rest. The health regen part of the feature isn't bad though. That would be a decent enough feature by itself.

Mind Fortress
This is too powerful powerful considering how long it lasts and that the Strength and Hatred feature and Suppression Power feature could already grant some pretty stellar protection from being charmed. I like the immunity to detection or mind probing by divination magic, that would be a good class feature by itself.

Empowerment
I like this and it is a solid capstone for the archetype. It meshes with the flavor of the class.

The Smiter

Intimidating Presence seems a little lackluster since in all likelihood Charisma would end up being the dump stat for a player choosing this Archetype. Improved Critical is a good enough feature by itself at 3rd level.

Soul Burn is fine.

Devestating Damage
Even with the Improved Critical feature you would probably not run out of uses for this feature without some really good luck. Consider also that with Soul Burn you'd be doing 20+ damage with every crit depending on your weapon of choice. I'd say reduce it to one use with a short rest recharge.

Thunderous Wave

Trim the first part, the lower part of the feature got copy pasted.
This should be single use per long rest with the damage it does. Friendly fire would also be a problem, consider wording it to where the Hunter can choose what creatures it targets within the radius.

Final overall gripe. Some of the language is a little too flowery and could be more concise. Spellcheck where needed, there are some typos.

Antonio CJanuary 12, 2019 12:50 pm UTC

CREATOR

Thankyou for your feedback. I'm not sure what to do about the Tenacity Feature in light of your feedback, but I will think on it. As for the rest of your feedback, I've tried to address as much of it as possible (including the spellchecking). The only othet thing I couldn't manage was the language being "too flowery". Call it author's bias, but I'm not entirely sure what parts of the document you are referring to.

Thanks again for your feedback :)

Matthew MJanuary 12, 2019 8:23 pm UTC

PURCHASER

For Tenacity I agree that one is tricky. Maybe keep the Con Save at DC 15 to where it's not too hard but a chance for failure is there. Maybe at low levels you can only trigger it if the damage is done by a spell or magical effect just to back up that this is an anti magic class? At 13th level it can be damage from any source, magic or not?
"Too flowery" was the wrong criticism to make, I read this at like 4 AM my time. Mostly meant to keep sentences in the opening sections as concise as possible. It was the gripiest of gripes I could have and doesn't matter too much in the long run.

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